My eyes nearly bugged out. “Wait a minute,” I said as the car rolled into traffic. “Your family owns that huge building in the FinancialDistrict?”
“Yeah, for three generations now. Our particular set of…talents lends us well to the private investigationsindustry.”
“Huh.” I chewed on that for a moment—I could see how being able to talk to ghosts could help someone track down missing people or belongings, or even find a murderer. How different would my life be if I’d known I had the ability to see ghosts from the beginning? Would I have chosen a different career path that complemented this particular skill set? “Guess you guys do prettywell.”
“You could say that.” Raiden smirked a little, and my face flamed as I became all too aware of the disparity between us. He was a rich kid from a hugely successful company, while I was a struggling college student trying to manage my mother’s business. We couldn’t be moredifferent.
My heart clenched unexpectedly at the realization. There was no way I had any kind of connection, déjà vu or not, with a guy like Raiden. I must have been reading into something that wasn’tthere.
I wanted to ask Raiden more questions about what had happened, but the cab driver was Japanese, and I didn’t want him overhearing us. Instead, I gazed out the window, curious to see if I could spot any ghosts from the car. At first, I didn’t see anything odd—just the usual foot traffic crowding the sidewalks, heading to and from work, or disappearing into bars and restaurants to wind down after a longday.
But as we slowed down outside a hotel, I caught sight of a bellhop loading up a luggage cart. He was a short, round man with male pattern baldness, but he managed to handle the large suitcases without issue. Our eyes locked, and his form flickered, revealing marbled blue skin, stringy hair, and a ring of stubble around his mouth. His yellowish-red eyes widened, and I choked back a scream when he hissed at me, exposing a set of curved fangs. For a moment I thought he was going to jump at me, but the car lurched forward, and we rolled out ofrange.
“Anotheryokai,” Raiden murmured from behind me, his voice pitched too low for the driver to hear. I turned away from the window to meet his intense gaze. “We’re seeing more and more ofthem.”
“What does it mean?” I asked, and I hated the way my voice trembled. I’d been shaken more by that brief encounter than I wanted to admit. “Why am I suddenly seeing these thingseverywhere?”
Raiden shook his head. “Later,” he said, glancing toward thecabbie.
I lapsed into a resentful silence for the rest of the cab ride. I hated that I was so completely out of my element. My life was organized around a very strict routine of studying, working, and caring for my mother. It kept me sane, allowing me to focus on the important things while not leaving me room to worry about thefuture.
Now, my entire routine had been shattered, and all the worries were crawling back into my brain, threatening to eat me alive. I needed to know more about this situation, so I could figure my way out of it, but so far Raiden hadn’t been veryforthcoming.
He isn’t the only one who isn’t telling you things,I thought as I glanced down at my charm bracelet. The tiny silk and cotton monkey was still there, and a shiver went down my spine as I remembered what thefurihad said. He’d served my father before being passed down to me. What did that mean? That my father had been a shaman? Did my mother know aboutthis?
She had to have known. How can you marry someone and not know about such a huge part ofthem?
But if she did know, why hadn’t she told me? My mom had always believed in the Old Gods, orkami, as they were called, and we had a small shrine in our living room she used for prayer. She’d told me plenty of stories about thekamiwhen I was little, but as I’d grown up and become more interested in science, I’d forgotten them. And she’d never pushedme.
Maybe she just wanted you to live a normal life. One free of ghosts andmonsters.
Well, so much for that,I thought as we pulled up to a black, twelve-story building just a few blocks from the Transamerica building. I didn’t know what had happened today that had changed my life, but I knew one thing: there was no going back. I could see the ghosts and monsters now, and until my mother was safe and sound, I wasn’t going to stick my head in the sand and pretend they didn’texist.
6
Raiden paid the cabbie,then led me toward the huge black skyscraper his family owned. As we walked toward the glass doors, a tingling feeling spread over me from head to toe. It was as if I’d passed through some kind of electrical field. Shivering, I rubbed my arms—they were covered, but I could feel the hairs on themprickling.
“Sorry,” Raiden said, noticing my discomfort. “We’ve got wards around the perimeter to keepyureiout,” he explained, using the Japanese term for “ghost.”
“Do they keep outyokaitoo?” I asked, glancing back toward the street. After what I’d seen today, I wouldn’t be surprised to see moreyokaiandyureiwatching us from outside. But there were only humans walking around, which was perfectly normal. After all, they couldn’t all be monsters,right?
“Yeah, though we haven’t gotten many of those,” Raiden said, reaching for the keychain on his belt loop. “We really don’t get a lot ofyokaiout here. They don’t usually wander very far fromJapan.”
I opened my mouth to ask him to elaborate, but before I could, a guard rushed forward to open the door before Raiden could use hiskey.
“Good evening, Mr. Takaoka,” he said, holding the door wide. “And to you,Miss.”
“Are my parents in, Goro?” Raiden asked as we stepped into the lobby. It was a huge space, with green and white marble tile and huge clay pots with bamboo shoots for decoration. There were two groupings of furniture on opposite sides of the room where visitors could sit and talk, and in the center was a vacant reception desk. The lights were all down low, since the building was closed for theevening.
“I’m afraid not,” the guard said, locking the door behind us. “They left for Japan not too longago.”
“What?” Raiden’s eyes crackled with annoyance. “Why didn’t anyone tell me? I didn’t get any phone calls.” He pulled a cell phone out of his pocket and swiped at the screen. “Not even a textmessage.”
Goro cleared his throat. “You should ask Mamoru,” he said, sounding decidedly uncomfortable.I just work here,his body language screamed. “I wasn’t given thedetails.”
“Fine. Thanks.” Glowering, Raiden stalked toward the bank of elevators on the opposite side of the room. I smiled hastily at the guard in thanks, then hurried after Raiden before he left me in thedust.
“Who’s Mamoru?” I asked as Raiden pressed the button for the eleventhfloor.
